After four months of Brexit-prompted gloom, Remainers see the ruling by the high court that the government can’t trigger Article 50 without a parliamentary vote as a glimmer of hope. They feel that if there is a debate in parliament on it, if the vote is free, and if MPs vote according to their beliefs about what is best for the United Kingdom, the madness of Brexit will be stopped.
The biggest “if” in that sequence is the third. It is public knowledge that a majority of members of the House of Commons, and an even larger majority in the House of Lords, favour continued membership of the European Union. Voting according to conviction would be a foregone conclusion.
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